EFFECT OF SNOW ON THE FEELINGS, NOT TO MENTION THE LANDSCAPE--A
WONDERFUL DOME OF ICE.
There are times and seasons, in this peculiar world of ours, when the
heart of man rejoices. The rejoicing to which we refer is not of the
ordinary kind. It is peculiar; and, whether its duration be long or
short, its effect powerful or slight, it is quite distinct and emphatic.
We do not intend to enter into a detail of the occasions that call
forth this feeling of exultation. Far be it from us to venture into
such perilous depths of philosophy. Our sole reason for making these
preliminary observations is, that we may, with proper emphasis,
introduce the statement, that one of these occasions of rejoicing is,
when man arises from his couch, on a brilliant, sunny, sparkling
morning, gazes forth from his window, and beholds the landscape--which
yesterday was green, and red, and brown, and blue--clad in a soft mantle
of whitest snow!
What! you don't agree with us? You shudder at the preposterous idea of
such a sight being fitted to rejoice the heart of man in any degree
whatever? Well, well; do not sneer at our weakness. If we cannot
sympathise with each other on this subject, perchance there are other
things in which we can. But whatever be _our_ opinion in regard to
this, the point that we have to deal with at present is, the opinion of
Edith Stanley, who, on rising hastily one morning, and looking forth
from her little window, evinced the rejoicing of her heart most
emphatically, by her loud exclamation of delight and the sparkling of
her bright blue eyes.
Independently of the cheerful lightness and the virgin purity of the
mantle, which in itself tended to awaken emotions of gladness in Edith's
heart, there was something in its sudden appearance that carried her
back violently and vividly to bygone days. The winter garb had no
associations, yet, with Ungava; but it had with Moose Fort, and the dear
companions she used to play with there. It recalled the time when she
and her little friends sallied forth, each with her small wooden sledge
drawn after her by a line, to slide thereon down the banks of the frozen
river with headlong speed, and upset at the bottom amid shouts of
laughter. It recalled the time when she made the first attempt to walk
in snow-shoes, upon which occasion she tripped and fell into the snow,
as a matter of course, and was advised to wait till she was older. It
recalled the memory of her father's team of dogs, and the delightful
drives she used to have over the frozen river; which drives often
resulted in an upset, perhaps several, and always resulted in fun. It
recalled the house in the old fort that used to be her home; the row of
houses belonging to the men, to which she often went, and was always
welcomed as a great favourite; the water-hole on the river from which
the old Canadian drew his daily supply; and the snow-house in the yard
which she built in company with Frank Morton, and which stood the whole
winter through, but gave way at last before the blazing sun of spring,
and fell--as ill luck would have it--when she and Chimo were sitting
there, so that she and the dog together had a hard struggle ere they got
free. All these, and many more thick-coming memories of other days,
were aroused by the vision of snow that met Edith's gaze that morning,
and caused her heart with peculiar fervour to rejoice.
Winter had now descended with iron grasp upon Ungava. For some weeks
the frost had been so intense that every lake and pool was frozen many
inches thick, and the salt bay itself was fringed with a thick and
ever-accumulating mass of ice. The snow which now fell was but the
ceremonial coronation of a king whose reign had commenced in reality
long before.
But the sunshine did not last long. The rolling fogs and vapours of the
open and ice-laden sea beyond ascended over the wild mountains, obscured
the bright sky, and revealed the winter of the north in all its stern,
cold reality. Every cliff and crag and jagged peak had its crown of
snow, and every corrie, glen, and gorge its drifted shroud. In places
where the precipices were perpendicular, the grey rocks of the mountains
formed dark blotches in the picture; but, dark although they were, they
did not equal in blackness the river, on which floated hundreds of
masses of ice and several ponderous icebergs, which had been carried up
from the sea by the flood-tide. Over this inky expanse the frost-smoke
hung like a leaden pall--an evil spirit, as it were, which never left
the spot till protracted and intense frost closed the waters of the
river altogether, and banished it farther out to sea. But this entire
closing of the river very seldom happened, and never lasted long.
Fort Chimo itself, at least as much of it as remained unburied, was a
mere speck on the edge of the white plain at the mountain's foot, scarce
distinguishable, at a short distance, from the straggling black pines
and willow bushes that seemed thrust out into the waste from the ravines
above and below the fort. But on a nearer approach, the fort assumed an
air of greater importance; the influences, too, of the cold, cheerless
scene we have described, were broken and dissipated by the sights of
comfort and sounds of cheerfulness within. The shout of the
water-drawer, as he roused the dogs and went forth with his empty cask,
hauled on a little sledge, to draw from the bubbling spring behind the
fort; the sounds of the hammer, the chisel, and the axe, in the
carpenter's shop; the merry clank of Bryan's hammer, and the bright
flame that gleamed from the window of the forge,--all bore evidence of
the fact, that however powerful the influence of winter might be
without, it had little power within the wooden walls of Fort Chimo, and
could not check the life, or heart, or industry of man.
The only other human being visible in the open air, besides the
water-drawer, was La Roche, who, with a fur cap covering his head and
ears, and leathern mittens on his hands, hewed and hacked the billets
with which he purposed to replenish the fire for cooking the mid-day
meal.
Pausing in his labour, and dusting off the hoar-frost that covered his
eyebrows and whiskers, he looked at the edge of his hatchet for a few
seconds with an expression of contempt. Then, throwing the implement on
his shoulder, he crossed the yard and entered the blacksmith's shop.
"Bryan," said he, seating himself on the edge of the forge and filling
his pipe, while Vulcan's votary scattered a shower of gems from a
white-hot bar of iron at every blow of his hammer--"Bryan, you no fit
for not'ing. Dat axe is blont encore. Oui, c'est vrai. Now dat is
tres mal. How you not can temper him edge better?"
"Timper it better, is it?" answered Bryan, putting the iron bar in the
fire, and regarding his companion earnestly while he blew the bellows.
"Faix, 'tis mysilf I'd need to timper better, in order to put up wi' the
likes o' you, ye wretched crature. How can ye expict it to kape its
idge when ye lave it for iver lyin' among yer pots and kittles?"
"Dat is not it," replied La Roche, applying a glowing coal to his pipe.
"'Tis de mauvais steel. But I not com for to fight wid you. Your
tongue trop long pour dat. I com for ax you to give me turn ov de
grindstone, s'il vous plait."
"Ye don't desarve it, Losh; but wait till I've finished this job and
I'll lind ye a hand."
"Be-the-bye," resumed Bryan, when the metal was cooled, "has Francois
finished that sled for Miss Edith?"
"Oui," replied La Roche, seating himself at the grindstone. "(Ah! pas si
vite, a leet more slow, Bryan.) Oui, him make it all ready; only want
de ring-bolts."
"Thin it won't want thim long. Ye can take thim over to the shop when
ye go across. There they are on the binch."
Bryan continued to turn the handle of the stone for some time in
silence.
"D'ye know, Losh," he resumed, "whin Mister Frank is goin' to the
fishery?"
"He go demain, I b'lieve, and Mademoiselle Edith go too."
"None o' the min goin'?" inquired the blacksmith.
"Non. Monsieur Frank just go for to try if dere be any fish to be cotch
by de hook; and I t'ink he go more for to give Edith one drive dan dat."
"Very likely, Losh. The poor purty little crature. She's very fond o'
sledgin' and walkin' in snow-shoes. 'Tis well for her, bekase there's a
want o' companions for her here intirely."
"Ah! mercy, dat is superb, magnifique!" said the Frenchman, feeling the
edge of the axe with his thumb. "It sharp 'nuff to shave de hair off
your ogly face, Bryan."
"Thin be off wid ye, an' don't kape me longer from my work. An' shut
the door quick behind ye; there's cowld enough in the place already."
So saying, Bryan resumed his hammer, and La Roche, following the
snow-track across the yard, recommenced his labour of chopping firewood.
Next day, Frank and Edith made preparations for the excursion alluded to
in the foregoing conversation.
The object for which this excursion was undertaken was twofold--first,
to ascertain if there were any fish in a large lake about ten miles
distant from the fort; and, secondly, to give little Edith a drive for
the good of her health. Not that her health was bad, but several weeks
of bad weather had confined her much to the house, and her mother
thought the change would be beneficial and agreeable; and tenderly did
that mother's heart yearn over her little child, for she felt that,
although she was all to Edith that a mother could be, nature had
implanted in her daughter's mind a longing desire for the companionship
of little ones of her own age, which could not be satisfied by any
substitute--not even that of a tender mother, who sought, by all the
means in her power, to become a child again for Edith's sake.
Immediately after breakfast that day Frank took Edith by the hand, and
led her round by the back of the fort, towards the kennel where the dogs
were kept, intending to release Chimo, who was to have the honour of
hauling the sledge of his young mistress. In passing the spring, Edith
paused, as she had often done before during the winter, to gaze with
wonder on the transformation that had taken place in the appearance of
the once green and fertile spot. Not only was it covered with deep
snow, but over the spring there was formed a singular dome of ice. This
dome was a subject of continual astonishment to every one at Ungava. It
had commenced to rise soon after the first hard frosts had sealed up the
little fountain from the open air. As time passed by, the covering
became thick ice, and was bulged gradually up above the surrounding
waste, until it reached an elevation of not much less than twelve or
thirteen feet. Inside of this the spring bubbled up as of yore.
"What think you, Edith?" said Frank, as a sudden thought occurred to
him; "shall I cut a doorway into that crystal house, and see if the
spirit of the spring dwells there?"
Edith clapped her hands with delight at the idea, and urged her
companion to begin at once. Then, checking him as he was about to
commence the work with his hatchet, she said earnestly--
"Do spirits really dwell in the springs, Frank?"
"Why, Eda, we must send to England for a lot of fairy tales to teach you
what I mean. I do but jest when I speak of spirits living there. But
many books, have been written about pretended spirits and fairies, which
tell us of their wonderful adventures, and what they said and did long
ago. I shall tell you some of these stories one of these days. But I
daresay there are no spirits in this spring."
"Faix, an' it would be a rale misfortune if there was, sir," remarked
Bryan, who came up at this moment, and touched his cap; "for it would be
only sperits and wather, which wouldn't kape in this cowld climate.
I've finished the ring-bolts for the sled, sir, an' came to see when ye
would have them fixed."
"Put them in your pocket, Bryan, for a few minutes, and lend a hand here
to cut a hole through this dome."
As Frank spoke, he drew a small axe from his belt, and began to lay
about him so vigorously that the icy splinters flew in all directions
like a shower of broken crystal. Bryan seconded his efforts, and in
less than half an hour a block of solid ice, about four feet high and
two broad, was cut out and detached from the side of the dome.
"That'll do, Bryan," said Frank, when their work was nearly completed;
"I'll finish it myself now. Go to the carpenter's house, and Francois
will show you what to do with the sled."
As Bryan walked away, Frank dealt the mass of ice a blow that split it
into several pieces, which he quickly removed, revealing to the
astonished and eager gaze of his young companion a cavern of a most
beautiful light blue colour. Taking Edith by the hand, he led her into
this icy cave. Its walls were quite luminous and delicately blue,
except in places where the green moss and earth around the spring had
been torn from the ground and lifted up along with the dome. Icicles
hung in various places from the roof, and the floor was hard and dry,
except in the centre, where the spring bubbled up through it, and cut a
channel across towards one side of the icy wall, where it disappeared
under the snow.
"Oh, what a beautiful palace!" cried Edith, with delight, after she had
gazed around her for a few minutes in silent wonder and admiration. "I
shall come and live here, Frank. Oh! do come, and let us get chairs and
a small table, and make it our sitting-room. We can come every day when
the sun shines and read, or you can tell me the tales about spirits and
fairies you spoke of!"
"A good idea, Eda; but I fear we would need a stove to keep us warm. It
strikes me it will make a capital ice-house in spring to keep our fresh
meat in. It will last long after the snow is melted."
"Then we shall make a palace of it in winter and a meat-store in
spring," cried Edith, laughing, as she walked round this
newly-discovered house, examining its blue walls and peeping into the
cold black spring. Meanwhile Frank examined it with a view to the
utilitarian purpose, and, after both of them had gone round it several
times, they continued on their way towards the dog-kennel.
The sledge which Francois had constructed for Edith was made after the
model of those used by the Esquimaux. There were two stout runners, or
skates, made of wood, for sliding over the snow. These were slightly
turned up, or rather _rounded_ up, in front, and attached to each other
by means of cross bars and thin planks of wood; all of which were
fastened, not by nails (for iron-work snaps like glass in such a cold
climate as that of Ungava), but by thongs of undressed sealskin, which,
although they held the fabric very loosely together in appearance, were,
nevertheless, remarkably strong, and served their purpose very well.
Two short upright bars behind served as a back to lean against. But the
most curious part of the machine was the substance with which the
runners were shod, in order to preserve them. This was a preparation of
mud and water, which was plastered smoothly on in a soft condition, and
then allowed to freeze. This it did in a few minutes after being
exposed to the open air, and thus became a smooth, hard sheathing, which
was much more durable and less liable to break than iron, or indeed any
other sheathing that could be devised. This substance is, of course,
easily repaired, and is always used by the Esquimaux in winter.
Esquimau sledges being heavy, and meant for carrying a number of people,
require large teams of dogs. But Edith's sledge--or sled, as the men
called it--was little. Moreover, Edith herself was little and light,
therefore Chimo was deemed sufficiently powerful to draw it. So
thoroughly correct were they in this supposition, that when Edith was
seated in her sledge for a trial trip, and Chimo harnessed, he ran away
with her and gave Frank a chase of half a mile over the river ere he
condescended to stop in his wild career.
But the intended excursion was suddenly interrupted and postponed, by an
event which we shall relate in the next chapter.